No axe sharpening here

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln quotes (American 16th US President).

I’ve always liked this ‘productivity tip’ from old ‘honest Abe’ but have got to say that I don’t see many people heeding it.

On of the things I remember once that someone said about why Bill Gates was so successful was the fact that he woke up every day absolutely petrified that his competition was catching him. This drove him and his business to achieve so much and still be a bell weather of the technology industry it is today ($23 billion profit on $70 billion in revenues).

When I look around I see people doing the same old things, the same old ways. I see it many times when you try and help someone understand the potential that SharePoint could bring to their business. Many are simply not prepared (or willing) to invest the time to learn how to potentially do things better (no axe sharpening here mentality).

Generally, if you want to do better than what you get paid to work you need to invest your money. The more risk you take, the more potential reward you receive is as true as it’s even been. An intelligent business person works out the minimum risk for the maximum return. Again, I see very little of this out there at the moment.

Seems to me that most people’s poor time management skills and planning don’t allow them the time to invest (or sharpen their axe) in making things better. They are constantly putting out fires complaining all the while that things will improve. Reminds me of another cliché that seems to be truer now than it ever was:

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing yet expecting a different result.

So many businesses and individuals I see complete the same processes over and over again without any mind as to how it could be improved. With no mind to how they make it more efficient, they are doomed to make the same mistakes. When asked, they’ll cite the fact that they don’t have enough time. To me this is simply insanity of the highest order because unless you make time you’ll never get time. Simple stuff.

I used to be worried about my competition. I used to worried about finding more business opportunities. But from what I can see, someone has left the door to asylum open and many can’t find their way home. I’m happy to help of course, for a fee and that’s just fine by me!